Euro Moto: What are the IDM champions of recent years actually up to?

The story of the Spaniard Íñigo Iglesias is a short one. Not only did he enjoy success in the Supersport World Championship, but he also clinched the penultimate title in the IDM Supersport 300 and, last year, his first title in the Sportbike class. After that, however, it was all over. A few negotiations came to nothing, and Iglesias is currently not competing in any championship and has not been seen on a motorbike either.

Supersport World Championship: No easy ride for Kofler

The Austrian Andreas Kofler had won the title in the 2024 and 2025 IDM Supersport seasons. With his promotion to the Supersport World Championship, not only did he disappear from the series – which has been running as Euro Moto since this year – but so did his brother Maximilian Kofler, who, after his time in the Supersport World Championship, had moved into the IDM Superbike class and had also shown good progress last year. However, with Andreas Kofler’s promotion, the Kofler family’s self-managed team also moved up a class, and there was simply no capacity left for a Superbike entry.

For Andreas Kofler, the World Championship is a tough nut to crack. After eight of 12 races, the Austrian still has zero points to his name. Most recently, the Yamaha rider competed at Donington Park in the UK. But Kofler came away empty-handed there too. It was his first trip to the UK. He finished the races in 26th and 24th place. He had won his IDM titles riding Yamaha’s R6 model; in the World Championship, he is competing on the new R9.

Andreas Kofler

Foto: Gold and Goose

“We were able to improve from session to session again, which underlines that we’re on the right track,” he says of his trip to England. “We’ve finally got the set-up where it needs to be.” In the second race, he managed to reduce his gap to the winner by ten seconds. “Finishing in the points is the goal for the future, and of course I want to keep moving up the order. We’re the newcomers to the World Championship – me as a rider, but also the team – and we certainly feel that on tracks like Donington, where, unlike almost all our rivals, we have absolutely no experience.” We should now be well-positioned with the set-up for the final part of the season; we’ll certainly be testing again over the summer and building on our experience with the R9. I hope we get closer to the points-scoring positions; if it doesn’t work out this year, then it certainly will in 2027.”

BSB Superbike: A new experience for Mikhalchik

In recent years, Ilya Mikhalchik has done one thing above all else in the IDM Superbike: win. In total, he has secured four titles in the series. But after his victory in 2024, the Ukrainian wanted to take on a new challenge and thus move closer to his dream of representing his country in the Superbike World Championship. Last year, he continued his winning form in the Superstock category of the British Championship. In the end, he clinched the title there too and, at the start of 2026, secured a deal to compete in the British Superbike Championship on a Roki-BMW.

So far, Mikhalchik has completed four of the eleven race weekends, each featuring three races. With a total of 22 points, he is currently 16th in the BSB standings. He came away empty-handed from the first two race weekends. “It was a difficult start to the BSB Superbike season at Oulton Park – definitely the most challenging circuit I’ve ever raced on,” explains the BMW rider. “We focused on the basic set-up. That wasn’t easy, of course, especially without any pre-season testing. There’s still a lot to improve, both on the bike and on my own part, to really understand how to ride these tracks at a competitive pace.”

Oulton Park – definitely the most demanding circuit I’ve ever ridden on.

Ilya Mikhalchik

He also failed to score any points at Donington Park. His first successes then came at Knockhill. “A weekend full of learning experiences and progress,” is how he describes his trip to Scotland. “We weren’t quite where we want to be yet, but we’re getting closer to our goal every time we take to the track.” The trip to Snetterton can be described as a productive weekend with a bit of bad luck. “It was great to be consistently in the top 10 in every practice session,” he said happily. “Unfortunately, Race 1 was interrupted by a red flag, and after the restart we had a few minor issues. Race 2 ended in a retirement (DNF) after I was caught up in another rider’s crash at the start. Race 3 was a tough race, in which I fought my way back from last place to finish in the points.